LIBERTY – Elected leaders and the long-awaited state audit of the Clay County Commission slammed the fiscal recklessness of former Commissioners Gene Owen and Luann Ridgeway. The public petitioned Auditor Nicole Galloway to do the audit. In late 2018, Galloway’s office expected to complete the audit by the end of 2019. Lawsuits by Owen and Ridgeway delayed the audit. After Owen and Ridgeway left office in January 2021, new Commissioners Megan Thompson and Jon Carpenter joined Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte in giving the State Auditor’s Office full access to records. “Taxpayers in Clay County were fed up with being shut out from knowing what was happening with their tax dollars,” Galloway said when releasing the audit during the commission meeting Wednesday, “and they forced changes in their government. It’s up to the public servants of the county now and in the future to preserve and protect th...